


Hell Bent

by Royalravens



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crying, Feelings, Fluff, Getting Together, Good Theo Raeken, Heavy Angst, Hell, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Liam Dunbar's Biological Father Is A Dick, Liam and Theo Go To Hell, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Panic Attacks, Protective Liam Dunbar, Protective Theo Raeken, Redemption, Temporary Character Death, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2019-07-17 21:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16104032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royalravens/pseuds/Royalravens
Summary: Liam accidentally gets dragged to hell with Theo.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!
> 
> First of all, these characters do not belong to me. They are characters of Teen Wolf and belong to Jeff Davis. 
> 
> Secondly, This is unbeta'd and English isn't my native language, so I hope I didn't make too many mistakes. I loved writing this, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it! I'm going to try to update every week. I can't promise anything though lmao
> 
> Bye :)

Liam discovered he hadn't learned the true definition of ‘a crush’ yet until he and Stiles followed Theo to the bridge where his sister had died. 

Sure, he’d already found the older boy intriguing the night they met, but who wouldn’t have? He had just come out of nowhere and helped Scott fight some giant werewolf with glowing claws, no questions asked. Liam thought that was worthy of some degree of admiration at the very least.

But then Theo had made that comment in the woods about Liam being ‘tougher than he looks’ and proceeded to _wink_ at him, and for some inexplicable reason his face turned a deep red and his heart beat five times faster. He didn’t even fully process Stiles’ very offensive remark about the leash. 

He later learned that turning him into a blushing, confused idiot was one of Theo’s many talents, and Liam suspected him of enjoying flustering him a little too much as well. The dark-haired beta seemed to be especially pleased if he got Liam so bewildered he would stumble around like an ass and bump into everything. 

In Liam’s defense though, anyone would’ve run into that door if Theo had called after them that their ass looked great in those jeans. It isn’t as if he started wearing them more frequently after that or something. Not at all.

Those snide comments weren’t the only thing that Liam found annoying; Theo’s scent was a big one too. It was so damn good, and it seemed to follow Liam everywhere he went. He had to actively keep himself from sniffing him, and it drove nearly drove him insane. 

But what bothered Liam the most was how, even if Theo wasn’t there, the boy would sneak into his thoughts. One minute he was just listening to music, or playing video games with Mason, and the next his heart would jump and his face would flush, and every time it was because he had randomly thought of Theo. 

And then one night, he caught himself wondering if Theo’s lips were as soft as they looked. 

And then he began thinking other certain _things_ about Theo, which he’d previously never even considered to think about a boy. He’d immediately run to Mason to bombard him with questions (“So you’ve never liked a girl like that? And you didn’t even think you did at some point? Yes, but how did you _know_? Did you always feel, like, an attraction, or did it start later? Damnit, Mason, this isn’t funny!”), but his best friend had just laughed and congratulated him on his newly discovered bisexuality. 

_Thanks, Mason. Where the hell do I go from here?_

How it happened, Liam still wasn’t completely sure, but Stiles found out about it very early on (and you know what they say, ‘you want it known, tell a Stiles’, so everyone in the pack knew after that), and he made it pretty clear that he ‘was _so_ not here for that’. Stiles was still thoroughly convinced that Theo wasn’t to be trusted, and although Liam found it completely ridiculous, the disapproval from the mom of the pack still made him hesitant about trying anything. 

That didn’t stop the feelings he had for Theo from growing though. And the way Theo would laugh at his jokes or sometimes lick his lips when they were talking didn’t help at all to stop that.

It wasn’t until the time Theo saved Hayden and him by breaking that electrified fence open however, that Hayden had laughed at his face and he discovered, or rather, Hayden told him, he was ‘pining’. She’d caught him almost drooling (grossly overstated, according to Liam) when Theo was prying the fence open, and she’d said something among the lines of “Liam, for the love of God, ask him out already, or I’ll do it for you.”

Hayden, who had become a very close friend, and the one who Scott had originally believed Liam had a crush on. Hayden, who had _almost_ managed to force Liam to ask Theo out (because Jesus, she could be scary sometimes, and that was coming from a werewolf), and when her mission had apparently failed, she’d gotten the two of them alone to help things get moving already since he was ‘too incompetent’, and Liam was sure that if Stiles hadn’t barged in to stop them, Scott following closely behind, they would have kissed. 

Hayden who got turned by the Dread Doctors, died as a failed experiment, then got resurrected by Theo, and joined him and his murder-chimera pack. 

And not only had Theo taken Hayden away, he’d betrayed Scott, and had _used_ Liam for his crazy scheme to take over the McCall pack. Liam truly thought he’d never trust him or like him like before ever again.

While Scott and Stiles were on their road trip to get Kira, Liam was holed up inside his bedroom, eating ice-cream and listening to every song about heartbreak that was ever written. After a few days, when Mason finally came over to drag him out of his semi-depressed state, Liam swore to himself that every last feeling he had had for Theo had completely disappeared. 

But then again, Liam wasn’t exactly an expert on those kind of things.

* * *

“Your sister wants to see you.”

Before Liam could do anything to stop her, Kira slammed her sword into the ground, and the concrete began to crack open in Theo’s direction. A faint noise rose up from it, and it took Liam a few moments to realize that the sound he was hearing was _people screaming_. Scott seemed to have figured it out at the same time, because he winced and stepped back. 

Liam wanted to shout at Theo to run, to stop standing there like an idiot and get the hell away from there, because suddenly he was very sure that whatever it was that was waiting for the chimera down there, he didn’t deserve it, even after everything that he did. The words, however, got stuck in his throat and refused to come out.

Then Tara slowly emerged from the fault. The pure look of _horror_ on Theo’s face while she pulled him to the ground and started trying to pull him in made Liam want to run away and cry his eyes out-

“No, no, don’t!” Theo screamed, his voice breaking, “No, help! Help me!” 

The fear in his voice made something inside Liam snap. He couldn’t help himself. His feet started moving towards the chimera, and despite his pack’s screams begging him to come back, Liam dropped to his knees before the edge, quickly grabbing ahold of Theo’s arms. Theo stared at Liam with extreme bewilderment and terror as the beta tried to pull him out. 

“Liam, what the fuck are you doing? Get away from there!” Scott roared, and every other time he would have listened to his alpha (hell, he would have _had_ to, werewolf-instincts aren’t easy to ignore), but he barely even registered it this time. Maybe it was because Theo’s eyes were filled with tears, or maybe because he was desperately clinging onto Liam for dear life. 

The only thing Liam could manage to think was that there was _no chance_ he was dropping Theo now.

Theo looked down at his sister as she pulled him down another inch, and he squeezed his eyes shut. A few tears rolled down his cheeks. “Liam, let go.” 

Liam couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could Theo say that? He was being dragged to something that was probably actual, literal _hell_ , and he wants Liam to just let that happen? 

He frantically shook his head and pulled harder. His eyes started to glow from the amount of power he was using, but it was pretty obvious that Tara was much, much stronger. Then, Theo slowly began to let go of him, until the only thing that preventing him from falling was Liam holding on to him. 

Liam shook his head again. “No, don’t, I’m not dropping you!”

“Liam, please,” Theo begged him, “You’re going to fall in too, you need to let go! Please!” 

Liam’s lip quivered. He couldn’t lose him, he really couldn’t. “No, I don’t want to- I can’t-”

“I deserve it!” Theo screamed as he anxiously looked down at his sister again, as if he feared it was already too late to save Liam from her. But unfortunately for them both, Liam didn’t believe a single word of it. He didn’t mean a single word of it, it was just another futile attempt at trying to get him to safety, he could see it in Theo’s eyes. “I deserve to go with her, and you know it! Let go, Liam, _now_!” 

That sad look in Theo’s eyes, though- it sent shivers down his spine. No, there was more to it. He didn’t just want Liam to go away and save himself, Theo actually _believed_ what he was saying. 

Liam looked over his shoulder at the pack. Scott’s eyes were wide and flashing red, and if it weren't for Kira and Corey, who were holding him back, he would’ve probably already pulled Liam away from the rift. Lydia was covering her face with her hands, not daring to look, and Mason was screaming for someone, _anyone_ , to do something.

His eyes flickered to Scott’s again. Their eyes locked, and Liam shook his head, defeated but determined. Right when Scott burst loose from the grip of his friends, Tara yanked Theo and Liam down. Almost immediately, he lost his grip on Theo, and found himself tumbling through the darkness on his own. 

The last thing Liam heard was Theo screaming his name as the ground closed up above him. 


	2. Chapter 1

“ _Theo…_ ”

Theo startled awake and slammed his head against the metal ceiling, Liam’s name dying on his lips. 

“Ah, fuck!” He whisper-yelled, as he let himself fall back, and rubbed the sore spot on his forehead. Theo opened his eyes, but it was so dark that it hardly made a difference. His supernatural instincts were screaming at him that he was in danger. He began to breathe faster as the fear flared up in his chest, and he buried his face in his hands in an attempt to get some control over himself.

After a few moments though, he still hadn’t managed to calm down. Theo laughed. He’d practically lived in the dark for ten years (granted, he was never alone- his sciency murder-parents were there for example, and all of the horrifying creatures they kept bringing in), and now he was afraid of it? He was a joke.

And on top of that, he couldn’t even control his own heartbeat, even though he had manipulated an entire pack of smart and strong supernatural beings with his ability to do so. How can a skill like that just disappear? 

“Get a grip, Raeken,” Theo mumbled to himself, and turned on his stomach.

He made his eyes flash to their yellow color, so he could make out where he was. The first thing that crossed his mind as he looked around was a coffin, but he quickly shrugged that thought off, because if it were, there wouldn’t have been enough space for him to be able to roll over. Plus, the walls were made of metal, not wood.

He would’ve been more sure of himself if it weren’t for the pungent smell of death that was all around him. 

Then a hint of another scent came through, and he immediately realized where he had been taken to. Theo almost choked as panic set in. _Get out, get out, get out_ \- 

With all his might, he punched the door of the morgue drawer, again and again, until it burst open. Theo scrambled out, and had to force himself (again) to breathe normally. 

_Come on_ , Theo thought, _pull yourself together._

The lights in the morgue were gloomy, and everything was unnaturally silent. As if there had been an apocalypse he’d slept through, and every living being except him had just disappeared. 

As he stood up, he noticed his clothes were not the ones he had been wearing when he was dragged in. Sweatpants and a t-shirt? And he was barefoot- why the hell was he not wearing any shoes? He’d never worn anything like this in the real world. Did Hell have some kind of costume designer or something? Theo smirked at the thought.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he heard it; a whisper so soft he shouldn’t have been able to hear, even with his super-hearing, but he registered it like the person had been standing next to him.

“ _Theo…_ ” 

Theo snapped his head in the direction it had come from. He recognized that voice, and right when he realized that, Tara’s heart skipped a beat.

She was here. She had dragged him down here, and now she was going to do God knows what to him. He’d probably deserve it, too.

His mind wandered back to the night he’d killed her, or rather, did nothing to save her. He had been standing on that bridge, towering over his sister, while she was slowly dying from the cold. He could still picture her face as she’d reached out to him and whispered his name, begging for him to help her escape the creek she was stuck in because of her two broken legs. 

And Theo had just watched her freeze.

He slowly moved towards the doors as if he were in some kind of trance, and pushed the doors open. Very warily, he stepped out of the morgue, and scanned the hallway.

He spotted the front desk at the end of the corridor, and started walking towards it while trying to suppress the urge to sprint towards it instead.

“ _Theo_ …”

It was a whisper just like the other time; Theo just kept walking, until a small puff of air made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Theo turned around so quickly he almost lost his balance, and immediately saw the form of his very dead sister crawling towards him. Here face was white as a sheet, and her hair was hanging in wet strings around her face. There was a gaping hole in her chest, right where her heart was supposed to be, and a couple of bloody ribs were just hanging out.

Theo’s blood turned to ice. He couldn’t move, he just stared at her with wide eyes and hunched shoulders as she got closer. The only thing in his body that seemed to be able to move was his heart; it was beating faster and louder, as if it were calling out to its rightful owner. 

Theo took a step back. Then another. 

And then, Tara grabbed his ankles and he fell backwards, his arms swinging. She held him down by climbing on top of him. Their eyes locked, but hers were cold, hateful. Dead. His face grew hot from shame, a feeling that used to be foreign to him, but right now it was almost all he could feel. 

He did that to her. She trusted him, and he did _that_ to her, even though he loved her. She trusted him like Scott had trusted him, like Liam had- 

Oh no. Theo almost gasped as the memory of him resurfaced in his mind. 

_Liam._ He’d forgotten Liam. The beta who had tried to pull him out and then fell in with him. He had to go find him, like, _right now_. How in the hell could he even have forgotten about him? In the world above, Liam was practically almost the only thing on his mind. No, this couldn’t be his fault, it had to be something this place or maybe even Tara (who was currently laying her hand on his chest right above his heart, oh no what is she doing get her off) was doing to him.

Tara dug her fingers into his skin. He felt his flesh splitting it apart, and the immense sensation of pain that immediately pierced through him made Theo try (and fail miserably) to gasp for air. 

He felt her fingers dig around in his chest and through his ribs to find his heart, and he started to choke as vomit and blood rose up in his throat. After a few seconds her fingers found the organ she was looking for and closed around it, and then she ripped it out. 

The pain was excruciating. Tears filled his eyes as he looked at the heart in her hand, but before any of them got out, he felt himself slip away; he couldn’t even bear the weight of his head anymore, and let it fall back onto the ground.

Theo closed his eyes.

* * *

Theo gasped as he woke up with a start. The pain was gone, how could the pain be gone?

He quickly reached for his chest with his hands, expecting to find a hole there, and when he didn’t, he pressed down to check if he could feel his heart. The sound he made when he finally found his pulse bordered that of a sigh and a sob. 

He had to get out of here.

After ramming the door of the drawer off its hinges, Theo scrambled to his feet. And then he heard the whispering voice of his sister again, making him run towards the doors in almost blind panic. He burst through them and kept very still for a moment, trying to sense Tara’s whereabouts, but he didn’t pick up on anything, so instead he bolted for the exit.

When Theo reached the end of the hallway, he frantically looked around, and he felt almost relieved when he spotted the glass doors with the word “EMERGENCY” in huge letters above them. 

_Almost_ relieved, because when he actually got to the doors, the little voice in the back of his head that had said there was no way he could escape this place was proven right; the doors were locked. He pushed and pushed and even started hitting the doors, but they wouldn’t budge. 

The air moved behind him again. He turned around, and there was Tara again, just a few feet away. She was standing now, and he could see the hole in her chest more clearly. It nearly made him gag. He felt frozen as she stared in his eyes, and slowly moved towards him.

He pressed his back to the doors. He knew where this was going. 

“Tara, don’t-”

She grabbed his neck with one hand, probably to hold him in place, and Theo braced himself. Unlike last time, she smashed her hand through his chest, and pulled her heart out, clearly now knowing exactly where it was. 

Images of the Dread Doctors preparing him for the final surgery flashed through his mind. He remembered lying on the cold table, wide awake, as the heart was being brought in, and his chest was being cut open. He remembered screaming, but being held down as they cut his own heart out and replaced it. He remembered feeling regret, and missing his sister. 

Theo tried to breath. He didn’t look at the heart in her hand, could only stare with wide eyes at Tara’s dead ones as he slid down. 

Before he even hit the ground, everything went black, and he woke up in the drawer again. 

He was completely overtaken by panic now. He got out of the morgue as fast as he could, and instead of running towards the exit, he decided to try the other direction, but was immediately met by Tara.

She didn’t hesitate, and immediately drove her hand in again.

Theo went down. Again.

He opened his eyes for the fourth time in what had felt like maybe two hours. _I’m never getting out of here_ , he thought, but quickly shoved it to the back of his mind. He had to find Liam, he couldn’t stay here.

After the eighth time, he made it to the main entrance. And surprise, surprise, it was locked. Theo knew he had no time for disappointment though, because he already felt Tara’s presence emerge behind him. He didn’t look at her. He kept trying to open the door. Had to get out, had to find him. 

“Liam,” He screamed at the top of his lungs, “Where are you? _Liam_!” 

She grabbed him by his shoulder and turned him around. He squeezed his eyes shut, and the next time he opened them, he was back to square one. 

After the fourteenth time, Theo still hadn’t shed a tear. To him, crying meant giving up, giving in. Showing weakness. 

Apart from the tears that had escaped when he was holding onto Liam, the only times he had allowed himself to cry since he was twelve was to manipulate the McCall pack. He knew that if he genuinely cried, it meant he would not be able to fight anymore, and he would be done for. Plus, he wasn’t going to give his sister the satisfaction of seeing him break. 

After the seventeenth time, he didn’t want to open his eyes at first. 

Theo began to think he was running out of things to try. He’d already figured out that begging didn’t work. Trying to outrun her didn’t either. And of course screaming for help was just as pointless as all the other things he’d tried.

The only thing that seemingly made him keep going was the fact that Liam was down here as well. Giving up meant abandoning him in this literal hellhole. No, there was no chance of that happening. He made a vow to himself that he was going to find him, and he was going to get him out, even if he himself had to stay down here. 

It was hard though. Hard to stay sane, hard to keep running, hard to keep the tears from falling out. 

_It would be so easy to just stop fighting,_ the voice in the back of his head said, as his sister was about to drive her hand in for the twenty-first time, _Just give up, you’re never going to get out anyway_. His eyes filled up. Theo tried to shake the thought off. 

He gulped as Tara’s icy hand closed around her heart, and his knees buckled. 

The tears didn’t come. 


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup kids it's been a while, sorry about that lol 
> 
> To make it up to y'all, here's an extra long chapter!
> 
> Hope you like it :)

_“Where is everybody? I thought there was a pack meeting?”_

_Liam looked up at Theo, who had just come through Scott’s front door, from the couch and shrugged._

_“Hello to you too, Theo,” he muttered, and Theo smirked. “There’s no meeting, I think I’d know if there was one planned. Mason said to meet him here.”_

_Theo frowned as he let himself fall onto the couch next to him. “Well, Hayden told me there was.”_

_Liam’s cheeks turned at least three shades redder. “She- she did? What else did she tell you?”_

_Theo’s stomach turned as he listened to Liam’s heart rate. It was racing. Just the mention of Hayden’s name made Liam’s heart race now, apparently. Great._

_Theo didn’t like Hayden very much. He found her obnoxious and annoying. Needless to say, he wasn’t bothered at all by the fact that the Dread Doctors had chosen her to be one of the experiments. Good riddance._

_“Nothing, she just texted me to come here,” he said._

_Liam cleared his throat. “Weird.”_

_“Yeah, kinda.”_

_An awkward silence fell over the room. Theo just stared at nothing, and Liam kept fidgeting with his headphones, which annoyed the crap out of him. Why could this kid never sit still?_

_“Can you stop that?”_

_Liam huffed, but put them down. “Someone didn’t sleep well last night,” he remarked, and just like that, the tension was gone. Theo rolled his eyes and looked at the beta._

_“Can’t you go call your alpha or something? To ask what’s taking so long?”_

_“Mrs. McCall told me Scott and Stiles are working on an English essay at school when she let me in,” he responded, while trying very hard to avoid his glare._

_“Why are we even staying here, then?” Theo asked, but Liam didn’t respond._

_He couldn’t figure the beta out for the life of him. He seemed to be head over heels with Hayden, with the way he was always chasing her. Even his alpha had said he suspected it a couple of weeks ago. But at the same time, something felt… off._

_Like for instance, Liam never got flustered when she complimented him (which to be fair didn’t happen very often, but when it did, Theo took notice), but when Theo was messing with the younger boy, he could only blush and stumble. He was probably making it up, but sometimes he had a feeling that there was something else going on._

_“Hey, I just realized something,” Liam said suddenly, interrupting Theo’s thoughts. “We’ve never been alone before, have we?”_

_Theo’s heart jumped. “No, I don’t think we have,” he said, and narrowed his eyes. “What are you getting at?”_

_“Well, it’s just- I don’t know, it’s just weird. I’ve been alone with everybody else, and you probably have, too-” Theo nodded. “-so why haven’t we?”_

_He had to think for a second. “Well, either one of your friends is with you, or Stiles comes running in. Speaking of which, why does he do that?” Liam rolled his eyes, maybe to try and hide that he was once again blushing. Hiding something from Theo was not an easy task however, and Liam especially sucked at it._

_“Maybe he thinks you’re going to murder me or something,” he joked, and Theo shoved him, ignoring the guilty feeling that was poking around in his chest. Liam picked his headphones up and started playing with them again. Theo groaned._

_“Maybe I will if you don’t stop that,” he said. Liam raised his eyebrows skeptically, and didn’t stop playing with his headphones, while he kept their eyes locked. Was the kid trying to provoke him or something?_

_“Who are you, my mom?” He grinned, and Theo decided that that was the last straw._

_Theo lunged at him and pinned him down on the couch. He wrestled the damned things out of his hands as Liam laughed and yelled in protest. After falling silent for a second, their eyes met again, and they started laughing at the same time._

_Then, Theo noticed something very interesting; Liam’s eyes flickered down at his lips, and right as he did, Liam’s heart jumped. A mixture of feelings washed over Theo, but he couldn’t really identify them. Relief, maybe? Excitement, for sure. His own heart was racing as well, but it didn’t even come to his mind to worry about his lack of control._

_Well shit, he thought to himself, this was probably the reason why Stiles didn’t want them to be alone. That son of a bitch really didn’t want him to be happy._

_He felt himself bringing his face down towards Liam’s. The voice in the back of his head was screaming about the plan he was about to ruin, what are you doing you idiot, what about the Dread Doctors, but Theo ignored it. Liam closed his eyes._

_And then the front door opened with a loud bang, causing Theo to startle and fall off the couch, and Liam to bolt upright._

_Stiles had barged in, and was now standing hunched over, with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Theo had just scrambled to his feet when Scott ran in, looking very irritated._

_“Jesus Christ, Stiles, what the actual-” Scott stopped immediately when he noticed Theo and Liam standing awkwardly next to each other. Stiles was still wheezing, and held up his index finger to indicate he needed a moment._

_“Hi guys…” He breathed heavily, “Funny… we should… run into you here!” Scott threw his hands up in exasperation and shook his head. “How… uhm… are you doing?” Scott hit Stiles on his arm before he could say anything else, and turned to Liam, ignoring the hurtful look Stiles shot his way as he rubbed the now sore spot._

_“What are you guys doing here?” He asked, and they both blushed._

_“Hayden told me there was a pack meeting,” Theo said._

_“Mason told me to meet him here,” Liam said at the same time._

_Stiles hit Scott back. “Dude, I’m actually kind of hurt you wouldn’t believe she would say that to me! Do you see what happens when you doubt my people skills? I told-” Stiles whispered angrily, as if Theo and Liam couldn’t hear what he was saying. Theo and Liam glanced at each other and exchanged a look._

_“I swear, if you say ‘I told you so’, I will hurt you,” Scott snapped quietly. Stiles made a disbelieving sound. “And you don’t have ‘people skills’! You need to have a lot of social relations to have that!”_

_“Are you really saying I don’t have friends? Because we have the same group of friends, Scott!”_

_Scott looked up to the ceiling. “That’s not even- That’s beside the point! Just because you were right this once-”_

_Liam cleared his throat, and Stiles and Scott both looked up. “Uhm- who is ‘she’, what exactly did she say to you, and what does that have to do with us?” The alpha and the human stared at him. Scott nudged the other to get him to start talking._

_“Oh, uhm- it’s just- Melissa called to let us know you two were here,” Stiles said. “That’s all.”_

_“Aha,” Theo said after a few more silent and very awkward moments, “Well, I think I should be going.”_

_Stiles nodded. “Yes, I think you shou-” he started to say, but Scott hit him again. “Ow, c’mon man, same spot?”_

_Outside, Theo opened the door of his car, and sat down behind the wheel. Before starting the car, though, he pricked his ears to try and hear the argument that was undoubtedly going on right now._

_“Let it go, Stiles! Nothing happened!” He heard Liam say, and, well, even though it could be considered to be true, Theo knew it wasn’t._

_“Then why did Hayden text me the two most ominous words I have ever read? And mind you, I have seen a lot of death threats from ancient supernatural beings, not to mention a hit list!” Stiles hissed. Liam didn’t respond._

_Scott sighed. “How can you interpret the words ‘I win’ as ominous? Please, let’s stop talking about it, I think we’d all rather forget this.”_

_Maybe Hayden wasn’t so bad after all. Theo had to keep himself from laughing as he pulled out of the driveway, but nonetheless a dark feeling had crept up on him. He knew nothing would ever come of it between them, because the Dread Doctor’s plan didn’t leave room for something like this._

_He wasn’t allowed to, and he knew that._

_Theo getting feelings would endanger everything they had worked for, and they would kill him for it if they knew._

_And there was no way he was going to sacrifice everything for some stupid kid he had a crush on._

* * *

 

By the time Theo’s death count had reached twenty-five, he couldn’t even bring himself to run anymore. He didn’t see any reason to keep trying; He had already tried every single hallway multiple times, had begged and pleaded for her to stop, had screamed for help, but nothing had worked.

He knew he couldn’t give up though. He had to stay strong, had to get out, find Liam. But he was starting to get the feeling that running wasn’t going to help him find the way. 

_There is probably not even a way out_ , the voice in the back of his head kept telling him, but Theo refused to believe it. There had to be one. 

He slowly opened his eyes, and was once again met with the familiar darkness. Theo sighed. The atmosphere felt more pressing, making his limbs feel heavier. The fear that had been flowing through his veins the whole time he had been down here had drained him, and his entire body was now aching because of it.

With great difficulty, he turned on his stomach, and with what felt like the last remaining strength in his body, he punched his way out into the slightly brighter morgue. 

Crawling out on all fours, Theo wondered why he was even bothering to get out of the drawer at this point, because Tara was already standing in the doorway. He briefly looked up at her. The sight of her alone made the tears well up in his eyes now, but he also found he didn’t really care anymore, as long as they didn't fall out.

“It’s okay,” he said as he got on his feet and she walked over, “You don’t have to stop.” 

She did stop, though. For a couple of seconds that seemed like an eternity, she gave him a once-over, her head slightly tilted to the right and her eyes narrowed. _This is new_ , Theo thought. New usually meant good, in his experience. 

But then, for the very first time, he saw her opening her mouth to speak, and he decided this was anything but good.

“ _I know, Theo, and I won’t._ ” 

* * *

It took him longer to die that time.

It hurt a lot worse too, and not just physically, because the moment he hit the ground, the weight of everything he’d done and everyone he’d wronged had come crashing down on him. Sure, he’d felt a little guilty before, like when he thought of how he betrayed Liam or murdered his sister, but it was nothing in comparison to the enormous amount of shame he was feeling right now. It was crippling.

 _Well shit_. He was lying on the floor with his heart literally ripped out, and the only thing that occupied his mind was that the guilt from all his betrayal hurt more.

This place was changing him, and he hadn’t decided if it was for the better yet.

The next time Theo woke up, he knew what to do.

Of course he was still scared out of his mind, tired as he had never been before, and hurting all over, but he also felt determined. Not that he thought he was getting out of this hell, not at all. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to get out at this point. He deserved it. Theo realized that now. He just needed to get Tara to listen to him, so she would let Liam go. 

And in his mind there was only one way he could redeem himself enough for her to at least listen to his plea to save Liam. 

He routinely slammed his fist against the door of the drawer, and crawled out when he finally got it open. Theo saw the looming shadow of his sister in the corner of his eye, but he didn’t look at her. He just tried to keep his focus on what he was about to do. It became increasingly more difficult the further she approached though, because his head was beginning to pound and his vision was blurring. He was going to black out, he could feel it. 

Theo took a deep breath. No, he wasn’t going to faint, not now. He finally made eye contact with Tara.

“I’m sorry, Tara,” Theo whispered, “I love you. And I’m- I’m so, so sorry, about everything.” With a flick of his wrist, he extended his claws, and plunged his fingers in his own chest.

He almost couldn’t bring himself to hurt himself any further, but somehow he managed to force himself to rip his heart out. His eyes started to flood with tears, and Theo fell to his knees.

Images of Tara and himself as kids on a playground briefly flashed before his eyes. His older sister chasing him through the woods, laughing, playing, everything a brother and his big sister were supposed to do together. 

Tara crouched down in front of him. Trying not to black out, he held the heart out in front of him, so she could take it from him, but she just stared at him. He slowly brought his hand forward and put the heart back in his sister’s chest, where it belonged. 

“Please, let Liam go,” he croaked.

Tara didn’t say anything. At first, she just watched as Theo collapsed further to the floor, and lay there gagging and gasping for breath. But then, she put her hand on his forehead and brushed his hair out of his eyes.

Her hand was cold.

A tear escaped his eye and rolled down his cheek. Then another. And another. Theo knew he was finished. The tears were out, and that meant he had lost. 

Theo let out a sigh as he gave in to the darkness trying to pull him under.

* * *

What felt like a second later, Theo opened his eyes, expecting the darkness of the morgue drawer.

But there was no darkness. There was no pain, and more importantly, there was no hole in his chest. 

Theo was lying exactly where he had died last, on the floor, next to the open drawer he’d no less than twenty-five times crawled out of. He immediately got to his feet and frantically looked round. Tara was nowhere to be seen. And he didn’t hear anything either. 

He warily placed one foot in front of the other, slowly moving towards the doors and then pushing them open. 

Still, absolute silence. 

“Hello?” Theo called. “Anybody there?” He didn’t really expect an answer, but he was still suspicious of the lack of sound. 

In the distance, Theo heard a faint rumbling. It was a very familiar rumbling, but he couldn’t quite place it yet. When he had turned his head towards the sound though, it stopped, and there was a faint ‘ _ding_ ’. 

The elevator. Of-fucking-course. 

Theo immediately broke into a sprint, a hopeful feeling blossoming in his stomach. Just when he arrived, the elevator doors opened. “Oh my God, oh my-” he breathed, and all but scrambled inside. 

His hand hovered over the button panel. _There didn’t used to be this many buttons_ , Theo thought. _Which one, which one? Just pick one, you idiot, get out of here!_ He mentally kicked himself as he felt the panic clawing at his throat. _No, you need to be sure, or you’re going to be stuck in some other hell. You can’t risk that._

He briefly glanced at the dark hospital hallway, and instantly regretted it, because there she was again, and she was coming at him. She was taking him back, Theo was sure of it. 

But when she was close enough for him to see her features, he started to calm down. Tara looked… _alive_. Her hair wasn’t wet, her face wasn’t pale, and the giant hole in her chest was gone. Just- gone. 

“T-Tara?” Theo stammered. Tara smiled at him and stepped into the elevator, and Theo, despite himself, flinched away from her. But she either didn’t notice or didn’t care, and just pushed the button for the twenty-second floor. She patted him on his arm. Her hand was warm.

“Goodbye, little brother,” she said, before walking back out into the dark hallway. The doors closed behind her, and the elevator started moving up. 

He really did it. He had escaped, he was free!

_Am I though?_ Theo thought suddenly. He had absolutely no clue where this elevator was taking him. Tara could’ve lead him straight to another dead person with a grudge against him. His mind started racing through all the possibilities. His parents? Tracy? Or God forbid- The Dread Doctors? 

Theo shuddered. No, no way. He was going to find Liam. That was where he was going. 

The elevator bell dinged, making Theo snap out of his thoughts. His heart began to race as the doors slid open. He stepped outside, and found himself in another very dark hallway. But not a hospital hallway, no, this was a house! A house with a kid in it, Theo noted as he spotted a toy firetruck on the ground near the stairs. 

As he walked on while trying to be as quiet as possible, Theo suddenly picked up on a very familiar heartbeat. _Liam_ , he thought immediately, and his own heart began to pound. It had to be him! Theo sneaked further towards the door he thought the sound came from. His heart jumped when he saw beta’s name written on the door. 

Before entering, he looked back at where he had come from, but the elevator was gone. _Oh, that’s not good._

He suppressed the thought and pushed the door open. The room was completely dark. “Liam?” Theo whispered, and when he didn’t get an answer immediately, his heart sunk. Was the heartbeat some kind of trick? Was he going to be stuck in this house for all of eternity now? Had he come all this way-

The rustling sound of someone getting to his feet interrupted his incoming panic attack.

“Theo?”


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!
> 
> Dear God, it's been a while. I'm so sorry about that lol, I had kind of a rough time the past couple of months and writing Thiam fanfiction just didn't really cross my mind. I hope you all like this chapter, I had to think really hard about how I was going to execute this piece of the story... But I think it turned out okay! 
> 
> Please, let me know what you think! Comments really keep me motivated to write.
> 
> Enjoy :)

The second Liam had crossed the room and was standing right in front of him, Theo immediately knew what was going to happen, but before he could react the younger beta had already sent him flying by sucker punching him in the nose. He hit the ground and clutched his face with both hands. The horrifying crunch that had sounded would make him cringe for decades to come, Theo knew that much.

Liam looked blankly down on him.

Theo let out a humourless laugh. “Okay, that’s fair.” He smiled through the blood that was streaming down his mouth and chin, then coughed. “I think you broke it.”

“Good!” Liam stalked towards the door and closed it before abruptly turning around and going back to the far corner of the room he’d been sitting in. Theo coughed again and sat upright. He gathered the blood in his mouth and spit it out on the floor, not paying attention to the disgusted look Liam shot him.

His nose was, to his surprise, starting to heal, something that he hadn’t experienced in what felt like ages; he couldn’t heal in Tara’s hell scape, he just died immediately. Not that that was surprising, because why would his body even bother to try to heal after his heart had been ripped out?

Theo wiped the rest of the blood from his face and tried to ignore Liam, who was staring at him. He looked around for a moment to find something to wipe his hand with, and decided that the carpet would do.

When he looked up, Liam was still looking at him. “Take a picture, it will last longer,” he snapped. Liam blushed, but rolled his eyes and looked away. God, Theo was such a jerk. Barely there for five minutes and he’s already being mean. His cheeks hot with guilt, he stood up and started looking around the room, just so he could do something instead of dealing with Liam.

“What are you doing?” Liam asked, but Theo ignored him.

It was obviously a child’s bedroom; the poorly drawn pictures hanging on the wall, sheets with cartoon characters and stuffed animals gave that away. Theo wandered around the room, then stopped next to the night stand. On the night stand was a little nightlight with firetrucks on it, and Theo felt the urge to turn it on. Because, sure, he could see with his wolf eyes, but he’d always preferred light to dark (he probably had the Dread Doctors to blame for that). A warm glow spread around the room.

He could now also make out what was in the framed picture beside the nightlight. It was a family. He picked it up to get a better look at it. Two parents, and a boy that looked around eight years old, all smiling, seemingly without a care in the world. The boy had familiar honey-blond hair and bright blue eyes.

“Is this your old bedroom?” He asked. Liam didn’t respond. Theo turned his head sideways and looked at him. The beta was sitting on the floor on the other side of the bed, his back against the wall and his arms around his legs. He was almost curled into himself, looking at the wall on his right side, probably to avoid looking at Theo.

Theo’s heart started beating faster. He didn’t even notice it though, he was just looking at Liam’s slightly illuminated face; a sight that he could only compare in his mind with a renaissance painting. And a very good one at that. Theo sighed.

“Look, Liam-” He began, but Liam cut him off.

“I don’t want to hear it.”

Theo ran his hand through his hair and rubbed his neck. “I understand, but-”

The beta finally looked him in the eye. “No, you don’t understand,” he hissed, “I’ve been down here for weeks because of _you_. I didn’t do anything to deserve to be here, and yet here I was, in this literal hellhole, all alone!”

Theo rolled his eyes. As if he didn’t know. As if he hadn’t been through hell himself the past few weeks. “You idiot, do you have any idea what it took to get to you?”

“I actually don’t care.” Liam’s heart skipped a beat. It was faint, but Theo heard it.

He tried to suppress a smirk. “Stop lying to yourself,” He said, and put the family picture back onto the nightstand. Liam looked at him with something akin to disbelief in his eyes.

“Why would I lie to you?” He scoffed, “Is it really that hard to believe that I don’t care about what happened to you, after you dragged me down here in the first place?”

Theo would be the one lying to himself if he would say that didn’t hurt. He knew the beta was doing it intentionally, because they both knew it wasn’t Theo’s fault Liam was here. Well, maybe it was kind of his fault, but also not really. Liam didn’t have to go down with him, that was entirely on him. “ _I_ dragged you down? _I_ did that? Have you lost your goddamn mind?” Theo cackled.

Liam paled. “Keep your voice down.”

“No, I’m not keeping my voice down! You can’t accuse me of that, you know damn well I didn’t want you to-” Liam leapt to his feet and Theo had to keep himself from going in defence mode. Even though there was a bed between them, the beta looked like he had every intent of knocking him down again, and Theo didn’t really feel like breaking his nose again, especially because it had just healed. Liam didn’t look angry though, no. He almost looked afraid.

Theo however had begun to see red, so he didn’t take notice to this at all. “I said, keep your fucking voice down!” Liam hissed. “Do you have any idea-”

“No, I don’t have any fucking idea, but you don’t either! You’re saying you had it so bad, but you-” He yelled. Liam didn’t hesitate and jumped over the bed, grabbing him by his shirt and pushing him against the wall. Maybe he thought Theo would try to make even more noise, because he slammed his hand over Theo’s mouth. Theo felt his heart beat in his throat.

The beta really was stronger than he let on, and even though they were the same height, Theo knew damn well he wouldn’t be able to push him off. Not that he wanted to.

Liam was so close. Theo could smell him through the smell of blood that still lingered in his nose. He kept Theo pressed against the wall, their faces inches apart. Liam stared into Theo’s eyes, who felt completely trapped by the intense and very awkward eye-contact.

Theo tried to keep his face as neutral as possible. Somehow he had the feeling that showing emotion, any emotion, didn’t seem like a great idea. But at the same time, he wasn’t getting control over his heartbeat, and that was giving him away already.

Suddenly, Theo noticed that Liam’s pupils widened slightly. _Oh, okay. Interesting_. The hand over his mouth moved to his shoulder, presumably to get a better hold on him than he already had, but it lingered a few moments longer on his face than necessary. The chimera let out a shuddering breath, after suddenly realising he had been holding it.

The moment felt like ten years of Theo’s life. He wanted to kiss the beta so badly it physically hurt, but he knew this was neither the time nor the place. Plus, he’d probably get punched again. But on the other hand, would it be so bad if he risked everything to try it? No, he knew his betrayal was still too fresh; Liam hadn’t forgiven him yet, he hadn’t even forgiven _himself_ yet- No, it had to wait. The right moment would come, he was sure of it, but now was not it.

Before his thought process reached the point where he started worrying about if Liam was going to kiss him anyway despite everything, there was a loud bang that seemed to come from downstairs. Theo’s heart dropped, and Liam and Theo both immediately snapped their heads in the direction of the closed bedroom door.

Liam cursed and let go of him.

Theo frowned and looked at Liam. “What? What was that?”

The beta had a stone cold look on his face. “Hide. Now.”

“Liam, whatever it is, I can take it-”

“No, please, just do as I say!”

Someone was coming up the stairs. And wasn’t trying to hide his presence at all. The person seemed to be talking, or yelling, rather, but his words were slurred and Theo couldn’t make out what he was saying. Theo slowly took a couple of steps away from the door, but Liam stood his ground.

“Liam…” He started, putting his hand on Liam’s shoulder. Liam said nothing.

The person was really close now, and Theo began to pick up a couple of words the (obviously very drunk) man was saying.

“ _Fucking brat… always ruining… oughta teach him…_ ”

Then the door swung open with a loud bang, which caused Theo to startle.

A man taller and older than both of them entered, and Theo immediately realised it was the man from the photograph. He reeked of alcohol. As the man stepped from the dark hallway into the slightly illuminated room, Theo saw that the man had a huge wound on his head, and a small trickle of blood ran down his forehead.

“Why are you still up, you little shit?” The man boomed. Liam whimpered, but managed to shove Theo away from the man that was presumably his father. “You faggot, you always ruin my night! Come here!”

The man punched Liam in his face, and to Theo’s surprise, Liam let himself fall onto the ground without so much as a word or a cry of pain. He just lay there, curled into himself, while his father punched and kicked him. Theo yelled for him to get up and tried to push the attacker away, but to no avail. He heard bones breaking, and there was blood, so much blood-

And then the man stopped. He held Liam up by his collar with one hand, and his other hand, balled into a fist, hung there, mid-air. Theo didn’t dare to do anything, fearing he would cause another beating.

Liam’s breath hitched through the pain and blood as he clung onto consciousness, although barely. Then the man disappeared, and Liam fell to the ground. He didn’t leave exactly, though; Theo could see him one moment and then he was gone the next, faded into thin-air.

As soon as it was clear that he wasn’t coming back any time soon, Theo hurriedly kneeled down next to Liam to check on him. Panic rose in his chest as he realised that Liam’s heartbeat was fading. “No, no, Liam, hold on!” Liam didn’t move, he just stared at Theo with a soft, tired look in his eyes. Theo moved his hands around Liam’s chest and stomach, trying to find something, _something_ that he could fix, but it was all just broken bones and internal bleeding, so he was forced to helplessly look on as Liam slowly died.

“Say something!” Theo’s eyes began to sting. Liam couldn’t talk, he noticed then; his jaw was broken. The pain he had to be in, Theo didn’t want to think about it. He hoped it was just temporary. Liam would die and come back. That’s how it went in his own hell, so it would be like that in here too.

Tears were falling down Liam’s cheeks as he coughed up blood.

“You’ll be okay,” Theo whispered. “We’ll see each other in a bit, right?" Liam nodded. "Come on, let go.”

Liam slowly raised his hand and grazed Theo’s cheek. Theo grabbed it and held it there, trying to hold his own tears back. The two of them stayed like that for a bit.

Finally, Liam listened to Theo for once, and let go.


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!
> 
> Even though I didn't really have time, I finished this chapter anyway :p  
> Next chapter will be up in about a week or so, but it really depends on how my exams go. 
> 
> Enjoy :)

Theo couldn’t breathe. 

The boy he’d loved for months was lying motionless in front of him, eyes glazed over and cheeks stained with tears, and Theo _could not_ _breathe_. 

It was a feeling he used to know how to deal with, way before the Dread Doctors had turned him into a chimera and his asthma had disappeared. Now, though, all he wanted was to throw up, his vision kept going blurry and he couldn’t stop shivering. Needless to say, Theo felt like he was dying. The only thing that kept him from going completely batshit crazy and throwing himself down the stairs was holding Liam’s hand, that somehow remained warm, even though every other sign of life had left his body. 

_He’s coming back_ , Theo repeated to himself, _he’s not dead, he’s coming back, he’s coming back_. The sight of Liam’s broken body made Theo gag, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Maybe because he was looking for an indication that Liam was going to come back, maybe because he was punishing himself- It was his fault after all. 

His fault. _His_ fault. Liam was suffering because of him. Theo felt his stomach drop, and right on cue like he expected, bile started to rise in his throat. He immediately let go of Liam’s hand and scrambled away from him, reaching the garbage can just in time to vomit out every drop of bile his body could produce. 

When he was done, he let himself fall onto the ground next to the can and leaned his head back against the wall. 

Theo looked at the clock on the wall. It was ticking away the seconds. 3:59 a.m. Liam had been dead for almost an hour then. When he’d first noticed it hanging on the wall, he hadn’t thought much of it, but now he realised it wasn’t there for convenience, but to add to the torture. 

He could only imagine Liam staring at it, counting down to the exact moment his father was coming back to kill him all over again. 

Jesus, this was fucked up. 

When the big hand finally reached the twelve, making it 4:00 a.m., the second hand suddenly stopped, and the clock started turning backwards. Theo forgot to keep panicking and got to his feet to get a better look at it. When the clock reached 3 a.m., Liam shot up, gasping for air. The clock kept turning back until it reached 12 a.m. The sudden movement scared the hell out of Theo.

“What the-”

Liam got up without so much as a word or a look in Theo’s direction, brushed off his pants and sat down on his bed.

Theo tried to calm down. “Care to explain what the hell just happened?”

Liam scoffed. “No thanks, I’m still a little sore from being beaten to death.” 

God _fucking_ damnit. That kid was going to be the death of him. Theo began to wonder if he was going to kill Liam or himself. He aggressively rubbed his face and counted to ten in his head. “Oh my _God_ Liam! I literally just saw you die and come back to life, and I just want to know- I just want you to tell me what the fuck that was!” 

Liam ignored him. His nose then suddenly crinkled and he looked in the direction of the trash can. “What’s that smell? Did you throw up or something?” Theo absolutely didn’t want to answer that. 

“Come on Liam. Please just tell me.” Liam seemed to consider it for a moment. Then he crossed his arms. Theo didn’t like the smug look that had formed on the beta’s face. 

“Okay, fine. But you have to tell me what happened to you first.” Theo let his arms drop down by his side and let out an exasperated sigh. He didn’t have it in him to fight right now.

“If you really want me to, fine. I will.” Liam looked at him expectantly. He didn’t feel like telling him at all, it felt weirdly private. But then again, so was Liam’s story, probably. So, Theo went over to the bed and sat down next to Liam. They were both facing the door. “Any idea when he’s coming back?” Theo asked.

“He usually shows up around 3:30 a.m., unless you make noise and he hears it.” Theo looked at the clock. It was just past midnight, so they had all the time in the world. Shit, he really had to tell him. 

“Right. Okay,” Theo started. He moved around on the bed so he was facing Liam, who did the same thing. “I assume you already know that I basically killed my sister so the Dread Doctors could turn me into a chimera.” He looked at Liam, expecting to see some form of judgement or disgust, but he just nodded, so Theo kept talking. “Her name was Tara. She’s the one that dragged us down.”

Liam nodded. “Yeah, I remember. Nice girl.” 

Theo sighed. “Well, when I woke up after we went down- I was in one of those morgue drawers, in the Beacon Hills hospital. Everything was completely deserted. Like everyone left in a hurry.” He took a deep breath and stared at his lap. “Every time I woke up and had gotten out of that thing, she would be there. I could try to run, find an exit, but she always eventually caught up to me. And she would-” Theo gulped at the memory. “She ripped her heart out of my chest. Over and over again.”

“Jesus.” Theo nervously glanced up at Liam. “How did you get out?”

“I-” Theo began, but he didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t very keen on telling Liam he apologised and ripped his own heart out to make amends with his sister. “I found an elevator and got on.” Liam frowned. 

“Really? That’s it?” He asked, obviously not believing him. Theo blushed, but decided to keep up the facade and nodded. If he suspected anything, which he probably did, he didn’t say anything. Liam adjusted himself. “Guess it’s my turn now.” He hesitated for a moment to look around the room. “I don’t really know where to start.”

“Maybe- you can start with telling me who that man was,” Theo offered.

Liam looked at him. “My biological father. The biggest asshole alive.” When Liam noticed what he’d just said, he chuckled. “I mean, biggest asshole not alive.”

“So he died, then?”

“Yeah. He slipped on my firetruck I left on the stairs when I was like nine. Crushed his skull. Good riddance, if you ask me,” Liam said matter-of-factly. _Oh_ , Theo thought, _so that’s why the man was bleeding_. “He used to beat me up, like, three times a week. My mom was too scared to leave him.”

Theo didn’t know what to say. Obviously, he’d had a very traumatising childhood as well, but this was something different. Not worse, or better for that matter. Then something occurred to him. “The thing I don’t get is- why is he torturing you here? You didn’t do anything to deserve to be here.”

The beta looked away. “I don’t know. I mean, I can imagine that he thinks I killed him,” Liam said, “I kind of hoped you would know more.”

“I’m not really up-to-date with my hell lore,” Theo shrugged. 

Liam laughed. “Yeah, me neither.” He let himself fall back on his bed. 

“Have you looked for a way out already?” Theo asked. The beta shook his head.

“One step outside and he’s coming up the stairs.” 

“Maybe it’s different for me,” Theo said, “it’s your hell after all. If he even notices I’m outside the room, maybe he won’t beat me up.” 

“Let’s not take that chance, okay?” Liam snapped. 

Theo rolled his eyes. “So, what, we’re just going to stay here, waiting for him to come back and kill you?” He didn’t get an answer. “We’re not in one of Shakespeare’s plays, Liam, we’re absolutely not doing that!” 

“Scott will get us out. And like you said, it’s my hell, so we’re not doing it,” the beta said. Theo couldn’t believe it. Where was this stubbornness coming from? And that blind faith in Scott… After all those weeks down here, Liam should have already realised that no-one was coming for either of them. 

He couldn’t just say that to him though. He’d heard the Dread Doctors talk about the bond between an alpha and his beta, and given the fact that Liam was already traumatised enough from being down here, he wasn’t about to make it worse by telling him that his alpha wasn’t going to save him. So he just stayed silent.

Liam suddenly spoke again. “You read Shakespeare?” 

“Oh, shut up.”

* * *

The clock ticked on. Liam seemed to successfully ignore the very fast progress of time, but Theo grew increasingly restless. Around 3 a.m., he had begun to pace. Liam wasn’t a fan of that.

“For the love of God, will you stop?” Theo stopped for a moment, turned his head towards the beta who was still lying on his bed, and then resumed pacing. Liam sat upright. “C’mon, you’ll knock something over and he’ll be here within a second, you know that!” 

Theo didn’t listen. “He’ll be here in half an hour, anyway!”

“Actually,” Liam said, looking at the clock, “more like 22 minutes.” Theo groaned and finally sat down next to him, burying his head in his hands. 

“I’m not really feeling this whole thing,” He murmured. Liam sighed. 

“Yeah, me neither, but you know it’s the only way. And besides, we only have to hold out until Scott rescues us, which I’m sure will be soon!” 

Theo lifted his head and looked at him. “How? How do you know? We’ve been stuck in hell for nearly a month, and they still haven’t rescued you. Maybe, you know, it’s because they can’t, or won’t!” 

For a moment, Liam didn’t respond. He just looked at Theo with a look on his face Theo couldn’t quite place. He opened his mouth, closed it again, then opened it again. “You can’t think like that.”

“But why not? It’s a valid point, right?” He said, “Maybe they don’t want to risk bringing me back, so they’re just leaving you here.”

“Stop.”

“Liam, I’m not trying to get you to hate them or anything. I just want you to see that we have to look for our own way out.” 

Liam cleared his throat, trying to hind the emotion that was building up inside of him. “No. I don’t want to hear it.” 

Then clock finally struck 3:28 a.m., and the familiar bang and slurred yelling were coming from downstairs. 

Liam got up from his bed. “Can you go hide somewhere? So you don’t have to see me die again?” Theo looked at him. The young face of his sort-of friend was filled with a mixture of feelings that would certainly knock Theo out if he were to feel all of them. 

Right at that moment, he felt the same determination he had felt right before he’d torn his own heart out.

He quickly got up and stood beside him. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

The door swung open and Liam’s dad entered. Liam wasn’t looking at him, though. “What do you mean, that’s not happening? I’m about to die, and I’m asking this one thing of you, so just do it!”

“You’re not, though,” Theo said, as Mr. Dunbar threw his arm back to swing at Liam, “I am.”

Before Liam could object, Theo threw himself between the two of them and took the punch. The skin on his cheekbone split open. Another blow followed immediately after, breaking his nose. _Why is it always the nose_ , Theo thought. His ears were ringing, so he barely heard Liam scream. 

Didn’t his father notice he wasn’t beating up his own son? How was that possible? Not that Theo was complaining, because otherwise his plan wouldn’t have worked, but still.

Yet another blow and Theo was knocked down to the ground. He briefly thought it was over, as his vision began to blur, but then he received a kick in his stomach, which cleared it all right up. It knocked all the air out of him, and before he could recover he got another one. Then the man stepped on his hand, putting so much weight on it that he felt his fingers break one by one. Theo screamed, which earned him another kick, this time in his head. 

_One more, and I’ll be out_ , Theo thought. _Please, for the love of God, just let me go out_.

It took three more punches and two more kicks before everything went black, and Theo slipped away in that familiar darkness.

Not for long, however, because after what felt like two seconds, he shot back up, gasping for air. Liam was sitting beside him, still crying, but immediately stood up and wiped the tears away when Theo came to. “Dick.”

Theo laughed, feeling way better than a couple of seconds ago. He looked at the clock: 12:01 a.m. “I’m sorry, I’ll make sure to never save your life again.”

“It’s not funny. You’re not doing that again.”

“We’ll see about that.”


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup losers I'm b a c k 
> 
> I'm done with my exams (for now) so I've had some time to write again. So here's chapter 5! Chapter 6 is almost done already, so make sure to watch out for that one. I'll be posting it sometime next week. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Despite his best efforts, Theo was failing miserably at persuading Liam to let him die in his place a couple of times. And because persuading (read: manipulating) people used to be one of his best qualities back in the real world, this was infuriating to him. 

Even though Liam seemed to be immune to his methods (and Theo was fairly certain that he didn’t use to be, which made him wonder if it had something to do with the fact that Liam now knew too much about him), Theo didn’t stop trying of course. They kept arguing for hours on end, every now and then interrupted by Liam’s dad, but as soon as Liam’s lungs filled with air again they would continue. 

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t take your place,” Theo immediately began after Liam sat up after having died for the second time since the discussion began.

Liam got to his feet and stretched for a moment. “Give me one good reason why you _should_!”

“Because you don’t deserve it!”

“He’s _my_ father, so he’s my responsibility!” 

Wow, that was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard. For a moment, Theo studied the beta’s face, trying to look for a sign that he was lying. He couldn’t find any though- Liam couldn’t possibly believe what he was saying, right? He pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s the worst- Why- How is being tortured by a fake dad even a responsibility?” 

Liam rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter. It’s my hell, so I decide. I’m not letting you play the hero.” 

Red-hot anger flamed up inside him. He couldn’t have heard that correctly. _Play the hero_? Who the hell did this kid think he was?

“What do you _mean_ , ‘play the hero’?” He tried to keep himself from yelling, but Liam sure wasn’t making it easy for him. “Do you honestly believe I want to play a hero? To what fucking end, Liam?” He didn’t reply. Maybe Theo shouldn’t have seen that as an invitation to keep ranting, but he was angry, and he was Theo, so of course he did see it that way. 

“To make it up to you? To get on your good side? Maybe even Scott’s, if we ever escape? Is that what you think of me?” 

The beta crossed his arms with a huff. “Well, what the hell am I supposed to think? First, you drop into my life, everyone thinks you’re _fucking great_ , hell, _I_ thought you were fucking great! But then you betray us all and try to kill my friends.” Theo felt his face go scarlet at the memory. “You have to understand, Theo, that that was the last thing that happened before we got dragged down. Yes, I died for you, but you can’t expect me to trust you right off the bat.” 

Theo felt his insides run cold. “You mean, you don’t want me to be able to hold this over your head later.” 

“Oh my god, that’s not what I’m saying at all!” Liam said, “I just need some time. Maybe, in a few days, or weeks, I’ll happily let you die for me.” 

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. “Jesus Christ, Liam.”

Liam didn’t reply, but instead sat down in his usual spot beside the bed. Theo couldn’t muster up anything anymore to say. They were both so tired of this, and Theo knew it. So he chose to sit down next to him instead of continuing the argument. Theo pulled his knees up to his chest and laid his head down on it. 

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes. There was a heavy tension between them, and it made Theo feel like he was suffocating. He had to say something, but he couldn’t think of anything. Maybe he should apologise. But what for? He had meant everything he’d said. He really did want to take Liam’s place.

Why he wanted that so badly, though, was beyond him. Or maybe he was just lying to himself. The only thing he knew for sure was that he didn’t want to see him die anymore. Was that selfish of him? Maybe, but he really didn’t care about that at that moment. 

It didn’t look like Liam was about to be persuaded anytime soon, but Theo also wasn’t going to giveup. _Say something, it doesn’t matter what,_ Theo’s head screamed at him. “Liam-”

“Theo, please,” Liam interrupted, and Theo was kind of glad for it, because he hadn’t thought of anything to say beyond that. “If you ask me one more time, I swear to God I will break your nose again.”

“You say that like you’re going to be able to,” he said, completely ignoring the fact that they were sitting so close that they were just not quite touching. If Liam wanted to, he could break whatever bone in Theo’s body he pleased.

Liam chuckled. “On second thought, you’re right, maybe I shouldn’t hit you again,” he said. Theo raised his head to look at Liam in confusion. “Y’know, the whole ‘I’ll beat thee, but I would infect my hands’ thing.” 

Theo laughed, glad that the tension had lifted a bit. “Are you really insulting me with Shakespeare quotes right now?” 

“Maybe,” the beta smirked.

“How many quotes do you know off the top of your head?”

Liam shrugged. “I don’t know, a bunch,” he said, “English is my favourite class, after history.” 

“Don’t you mean, English and history are the only classes you don’t suck at?” Theo said. Liam shoved him, but laughed. 

Theo smirked. “Seriously though, what’s your favourite history subject?”

“I’m not telling you that,” Liam laughed again.

“Why not?” Theo said, “We know each other’s deepest fears and trauma’s, but we can’t talk about the things we like?” Liam shifted uncomfortably. Then something dawned on him. “Oh- you’re afraid I’m going to call you a nerd, aren’t you?” He laughed. 

“I am not!” 

Theo laughed harder. “Oh my God, you’re blushing, you’re totally scared I’ll think you’re a nerd!” 

“Dick,” Liam said, but there was a hint of a smirk on his face. “I really like Greek mythology.” 

Theo had to dig in his memories for a bit. Sure, he’d read a lot of Shakespeare and other classic novels, but he was never really into that stuff. History had been more like- a quick way to fall asleep for him. “With the heroes and gods and stuff?” 

“Yeah, exactly,” Liam said, “By the way, I’ve been thinking- there’s actually some similarities in Greek mythology to our… situation.”

“How so?”

“Well, there are these two myths, one about king Sisyphus and one about king Tantalus,” Liam said, “They both did stuff to piss the gods off, so the king of the gods killed them. They went to the Greek equivalent of hell, Tartarus, where they had their own torture spots.” 

“So exactly like us.” 

Liam looked uncertain. “Well- yes and no, because they actually deserved to get tortured. Like, there was incest and child-murder involved. They were horrible people.” Theo frowned.

“So, just me, then,” he chuckled.

Liam nudged him. “You’re not evil.”

“I’m evil enough to be down here.”

“Come on, Theo,” Liam said, and smiled, but his smile disappeared when he looked at Theo and saw that he was serious. “You don’t actually believe that, do you?”

Theo frowned and stared at him. “Almost everyone thinks so. Even I think so, because it’s true.”

“Nobody thinks you’re evil.”

“What are you talking about? Your pack sent me to hell, I can take a hint,” he said. Liam rolled his eyes, which confused and irritated Theo even further. “I’m sorry, did I not interpret that right?” 

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, they hate you,” Liam said, which was another blow Theo could’ve gone without. He knew they hated him, and they had obviously had good reasons, he just didn’t like thinking or hearing about it. 

“But let’s be real here,” Liam continued, “you were manipulated by a couple of psychopaths from the age of, like, ten. They kidnapped you and kept you underground for years. They made you kill your sister.”

Theo felt like he’d been slapped in the face. Not even punched, no, it was like a hard bitch-slap to the face. He couldn’t speak or look at Liam, and he tried very hard to ignore the tears that were piling up in his eyes. 

“They didn’t- I-” His throat closed up around the words he was trying to force out. He wanted to come up with something to shoot back at him, deny everything he was saying, but he came up completely empty. _He can’t be right_ , shot through his head, _he’s lying, he’s trying to get back at you. Your fault, you deserve-_

“I’m not saying that that justifies anything you’ve done to us,” the beta went on, either ignoring or oblivious to the panic attack Theo was beginning to have, “but you shouldn’t think you’re evil, because you’re not. You're just an abused, brainwashed and lonely teenager.”

Theo felt like he was experiencing an internal earthquake. He was shaking, but Liam either didn’t notice, which meant that he was maybe just imagining it, or the beta was ignoring it.

Somewhere deep down he knew Liam was right. He knew it, but he absolutely didn’t want to accept it, because if he knew himself even a little bit, he would latch onto the explanation and hide behind it. And that was not going to go over well if they were to escape from that place. He sincerely doubted that using the label ‘abused, brainwashed and lonely teenager’ as a defence mechanism was going to rub the McCall-pack the right way. 

He could feel Liam’s eyes on him, but he ignored it in an attempt at conveying that he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. And thank God, Liam seemed to be taking the hint and changed the subject.

“What did you get up to with the Dread Doctors, anyway?” 

Theo could finally bring himself to look at the beta again. “Oh, uhm- I mostly read,” he said, “I didn’t really have anything else to do. I wasn’t allowed to play with other kids or disturb them, stuff like that.” 

Liam nodded. “So that’s why you know your Shakespeare so well.”

“Yeah, they didn’t give me a lot of stuff. Once every few months the Surgeon would bring back a book for me.”

“I guess that’s kind of nice of him,” Liam said slowly, his eyes still focused on Theo. 

Theo chuckled and shook his head. “He probably only did that because he didn’t want me to become a nuisance. Or _more_ of a nuisance, I should say. I was terrible to them at times.”

Liam frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, like I said, I wasn’t allowed to talk to the other kids. But I often did anyway,” he explained.

“There were others?” 

“Yeah, they brought them in every now and then for experiments. They never stayed for more then a week or so, until they died.”

Liam rubbed his face and exhaled loudly through his nose. “Jesus.” Theo side-eyed him. He’d never shared any of this, because he knew that the stuff he was describing was horrible, but he didn’t _know_ know it. Liam’s reactions made him feel shy and vulnerable. Weak. 

“I also wasn’t allowed to cry,” Theo went on, trying to divert Liam’s attention a bit, “so they taught me some good things as well.”

“Crying isn’t bad, though,” Liam said carefully. Theo mentally kicked himself. That was once again not the reaction he had been hoping for. “It isn’t a sign of weakness, it just helps you work through your emotions and release stress. If you ever feel like crying, you should just do it.” 

There was a hint of a tone in there that made it sound like Liam didn’t come up with that himself, which spiked Theo’s interest. It had almost sounded rehearsed. 

“Did your mom teach you that?” 

Liam shook his head. “My step-dad, actually,” he said, “Sometimes when I got angry I would cry, and I was really ashamed of it until he told me that.”

Theo didn’t know how to respond. He knew the Dread Doctors lied to him a lot, but why did they lie about this? They had always told him that crying meant giving up, giving up meant weakness, weakness meant failure. But if what Liam was saying was true, then it wasn’t that significant at all. It was just releasing emotion. Theo’s head was spinning. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore. 

“It wasn’t all that bad.”

Liam nudged him, but then didn’t break contact again, so they were now sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, sides pressed against each other a bit. The contact made Theo’s skin burn. “I don’t think you believe that,” the beta said. 

Theo grinned at him. “How can you say that? Look at me, I turned out _great_!” 

“Define great,” Liam replied cynically.

“I know how to be a functioning person, Liam, I’ve read books,” Theo said, which made Liam laugh. 

They fell silent for a couple of moments. It wasn’t an awkward silence, to Theo’s surprise. After a while, he felt Liam staring at him. Catching the beta staring was starting to become a trend. Not that Theo was complaining, not at all. “What?”

“Your hair is longer,” Liam said, which prompted Theo to take notice of Liam’s hair. His had grown as well. “It looks better like this.” 

“How’s that possible?” Theo murmured as he unconsciously ran his hand through his hair. Theo’s mind started racing. How could their hair keep growing? They were in hell, they were _dead_ , for fucks sake. Hair doesn’t grow when you’re dead. “Are we still ageing down here?”

Liam raised his eyebrow. “Why is that weird?” 

“Well, I just figured- I don’t know, how can we age if we’re dead?" 

“Maybe we aren’t,” Liam said, but Theo sincerely doubted that. 

“No, I don’t think that’s it,” Theo said slowly, “but I think I know what’s going on, hear me out: we are dead, but mentally, we keep ageing, so our appearance here changes.”

Liam scoffed. “Are you saying we’re only here mentally?”

“No, what I’m saying is, that in the real world, we are our bodies, right?” Liam nodded. “So maybe down here, we are our souls. So when we age mentally, our appearance reflects that.” Liam stared at him. 

“You know, for someone that claims to be so well-read, you speak an infinite deal of nothing,” he smirked. 

Theo punched him on his arm. “Oh my God, can you stop quoting Shakespeare?” 

Liam rubbed the presumably sore spot with a fake-hurt look on his face. “I think we both know I can’t promise anything.”


	7. Chapter 6

With around five minutes until the return of his dad, Liam was beginning to have a hard time. Theo could tell, because his usual fidgeting had evolved into restlessness, and he couldn’t seem to sit still anymore. This struck him as kind of odd, because Liam had gone through this dozens of times already. At the same time though, Theo couldn’t really blame him. 

In an attempt to calm him down, he had put his arm around the beta, who surprisingly didn’t push him away, but actually leaned into the touch. 

“You’re going to be okay,” Theo whispered, knowing that by now, even the slightest sound could set the man off. Liam nodded.

“I know.”

When the (by now familiar) bang of the front door slamming shut sounded downstairs, Liam started breathing quicker. He reluctantly got up and began to move to the other side of the room. Theo didn’t follow him, but grabbed Liam’s arm before he was out of reach. Liam looked at him, a bit startled, but he didn’t attempt to pull himself away from his grasp. He simply stood there without looking away, as if he were being held captive by Theo’s gaze. 

Theo swallowed, watching him carefully, and asked, “Are you sure?”

Liam hesitated for a moment, then nodded. 

The door flung open, but the two of them still didn’t break eye-contact. Theo held onto Liam’s arm until he was yanked away from him. 

Theo immediately squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears in an attempt to block out the sound of breaking bones. He couldn’t bring himself to look at what was happening in front of him. Despite his efforts, he could hear every single thing. So when Mr. Dunbar broke the beta’s leg, which resulted in him going down with a gut-wrenching scream, Theo curled even further into himself.

Then it stopped. It took ages, but it stopped, and Theo dared to open his eyes again. After establishing that the threat was gone again, he immediately scrambled towards the beta. 

He fell to his knees next to Liam and very carefully laid his head on his lap. Gently stroking his hair, Theo tried to get him to relax. With a lot of effort, Liam managed to grab his hand and he looked up at him, tears streaming down his face. The chimera felt his throat close up. 

There had to be something Theo could do. He knew werewolves could take pain, but he wasn’t sure if those rules applied to him. 

Theo closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the skin-to-skin contact of their intertwined hands. 

Nothing happened. 

Liam tried to pull his hand out of his, but Theo didn’t let him. 

“Lay still,” Theo forced out. Liam tried to say something, but that only resulted in him coughing up blood. Theo shushed him and stroked the side of his face.

He couldn’t do it. He didn’t know how. All he wanted was to help Liam, to take away his pain. But he either wasn’t able to do it at all, or (he hoped) he just still had to learn how to do it. An eerie feeling crept up on him that it was the first one, but he didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t be _that_ useless. Liam needed this now more than ever.

The beta shut his eyes. “That’s it,” Theo whispered, desperate for it to be over, for Liam’s and his own suffering to end for a bit. “You’re almost there.” Liam’s heartbeat faded away, and he exhaled once again for the last time. 

Theo was so done.

Completely disregarding everything the Doctors had taught him, Theo slumped down against the bed frame (carefully as to not disturb Liam too much) and completely broke down. Whether he’d just had enough or he was taking Liam’s advice, he didn’t know, all he knew was that he had to get it out. 

Tears streamed down his cheeks, and his entire body shook from the sobs that he for once allowed to get out. He was still clasping onto Liam’s hand, afraid that, if he were to let go, he’d lose him for good. Maybe it was stupid for him to think that, but it was all he had right now to hold onto his sanity.

Then the voice of the Surgeon popped up in the back of his head, repeating over and over that ‘crying is weakness’, but Theo took no notice of it; it didn’t matter anyway right now whether he was a coward or not, or at the very least he couldn’t bring himself to care. 

After a while, he began to calm down again, and he finally let out a shuddering breath that brought his breathing pattern back to normal. Right at the same time, the clock began turning backwards, and Liam was healing again. A wave of peacefulness and contentment washed over Theo, and for the first time in weeks, his head felt at rest. He felt relieved. 

Maybe the crying he’d done in Tara’s hell scape wasn’t really crying after all, then- if he was being honest, he couldn’t remember ever feeling like this. 

Liam sat up. Theo expected him to let go of his hand, but to his surprise, that didn’t happen. 

Instead, the beta turned around so he was facing Theo. He could feel his eyes on him, but he didn’t look back; he didn’t feel very confident that he would hold himself together if he did. Besides,he feared that if he looked up he would find pity in Liam’s eyes. He was too tired to cry again.

Liam scooped closer to try and sit more comfortably. “Do you feel better?” He whispered. Theo wiped the remaining tears from his face. 

He didn’t understand how Liam did that. Every time when he’d wake up, he’d get up like nothing had happened. How could he show concern for Theo right now? Liam just _died_ , for fucks sake.

“I don’t know,” Theo replied, “I think so.”

Liam stood up, pulling Theo with him, and he sat down on the bed. Theo followed suit.

Theo did in fact feel better, he hadn’t lied about that. However, the fact that he wasn’t able to take away the beta’s pain was really bothering him. He didn’t really feel like asking about it, afraid of what Liam’s answer would be. 

But he had to know. 

“Why couldn’t I take your pain?” He asked, “It doesn’t have anything to do with me being a chimera, right?” 

Liam seemed to think for a bit, then shook his head. “Hayden could do it.”

“Then why?” Theo said, trying (and failing) to keep the misery out of his voice, “I really tried, I did!”

“You can’t take pain if you don’t care,” Liam said pointedly. _Okay_ , Theo thought, while shooting him one of those if-looks-could-kill looks, _totally uncalled for_.

“Are you suggesting I don’t?”

Liam stared at his lap. “I’m not suggesting anything,” he muttered.

“Because I do care,” Theo said softly, and Liam looked back up. The desperate and miserable feeling Theo had was reflected on Liam’s face. 

The world seemed to stop spinning for a second as they stared into each other’s eyes. Theo almost lost his composure, and he _almost_ leaned forward and kissed Liam. Almost. 

_Not the time,_ called a voice in the back of his head. 

He knew he had to ask again. Liam didn’t deserve it. 

“Let me take your place,” He whispered, “just this once. Please.” 

Liam immediately let go of his hand. “Not this again, Theo!” 

“Liam, please- I just- I can’t watch you die again!” Theo had never felt more desperate in his life. 

The beta looked furious. 

“You goddamn idiot, the only reason i’m here is because I don’t either!” He yelled. “I didn’t know what was waiting for me down here, for all I knew it could have been death! And hello- it’s even worse! The only thing I thought of before we went down was that I’d rather be dead then watch you die!”

_Jesus_. Theo stared at him. Of everything he’d expected Liam to say, this absolutely wasn’t it. 

Theo felt the urge to tell him the truth about Tara. It probably wasn’t exactlyfair to use it as an argument, but Liam’s sudden burst of honesty had more or less convinced him to do it anyway. 

“You don’t know what I did- what I _had_ to do to get to you!” Theo said, and tried to ignore the skeptical look on Liam’s face. “Tara wouldn’t talk to me, Liam, she just chased me until she caught up to me and then ripped my fucking heart out. I begged her to stop, to let you out, to tell me if you were okay, or even alive! I didn’t know what happened to you, the only thing I remembered was that you fell in that hole with me.” 

Liam said nothing, but it didn’t bother Theo; he wasn’t done talking anyway. “After a while I figured that I deserved it. I did kill her, after all. I decided that I needed to make it up to her. First I apologised to her, and then I did it myself. I dug into my own chest and ripped her heart out and gave it back to her.” Liam’s eyes widened. 

Theo’s throat closed up at the memory. He buried his face in his hands for a moment to calm himself, then inhaled sharply. His eyes stung. 

“And the only thing I wanted to achieve with that was that whoever runs this hellhole would let you go,” he said, voice shaking, “because I didn’t want you to suffer the way I was suffering. And that’s what’s happening, Liam-” he looked at the beta, who seemed to be forcing himself to look back, “-you’re being tortured because of me, and you don’t deserve it, and I can’t just watch and do nothing. Not anymore.” 

Liam still said nothing. 

“You deserve a break, Liam,” Theo tried, and then the beta promptly started crying. Theo almost physically startled. He hadn’t expected his words to work at all, he’d just been grasping at straws at that point. 

Theo’s first instinct was to pull him into a hug. Liam held onto him for dear life, and Theo would be lying if he claimed that he wasn’t doing the same. Theo rubbed circles on the beta’s back in an attempt to soothe him.

“How can I do that in good conscience?” Liam sobbed, “I can’t just watch my own father beat you to death!” 

Theo pulled back to look at Liam. “We’ll take turns if that would help you. And keep in mind, it won’t be forever, we’ll get out at some point.”

Liam huffed and looked away. “You don’t believe that.” Liam was right- he didn’t. 

“I do. Something has got to be going on up there, and that’s why they haven’t come for you yet. They wouldn’t leave you.”

Theo cupped Liam’s face to force him to look at him. If the beta lost hope, he would be finished, and that couldn’t happen. “They wouldn’t.”

The beta nodded, still a little unsure, but Theo felt like he’d gotten through to him at least a little bit. 

Liam looked dead-tired. Theo wondered if they could sleep in this place. They probably could. Theo held his hand out. 

“Come on,” he said. Liam took his hand and Theo pulled him with him to lie down on the bed. He put his arm around the beta, who had laid his head on Theo’s shoulder. 

Liam was still breathing in little ragged gasps every now and then. Theo hated seeing him like that. 

God, the first thing he was going to do after getting back was slap Scott in the face. 

Liam laughed. “He didn’t know what was waiting for us down here.” Had he said that out loud?

“I’m not angry with him because he sent me to hell,” Theo chuckled, while running his hand through Liam’s hair, “because I admit, that wasn’t _totally_ unprompted. I just wish he’d done more to stop you from going after me."

“Yeah, well, I’m glad he didn’t.”

“I don’t think ‘glad’ is the word you’re looking for there,” Theo said. The beta laughed again. 

And just as he did, the bang sounded downstairs. 


	8. Chapter 7

_Please don’t look at me. I’ll be fine, I promise._

_Don’t you dare take my pain. I’ll be fine. I can take it._

_I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine._

* * *

“Maybe we should start looking for a way out,” Theo whispered.

It was shortly after the second time Theo had been killed since they’d agreed to take turns. Theo woke up on the floor to find Liam practically wrapped around his body. 

Instead of getting up, Theo put his arm around Liam (something that had become a regular thing, it seemed) and they’d stayed like that. 

“What’s the point.” Liam sounded defeated. He also didn’t phrase it as a question, really. This worried Theo a bit. More and more frequently, it seemed as though Liam was losing hope, and that wasn’t very desirable in their current situation. 

Theo sighed, then said, “We are not staying here forever.”

“I don’t think there is a way out,” Liam said, and before Theo could interrupt, he went on, “You had to make up with your sister to escape, because that’s how the Skinwalkers must have designed it for you. They wanted you to either suffer for eternity or become a better person.”

Theo winced. It made sense what Liam was saying, but Theo didn’t want to think about his own hell or Tara. He couldn’t, he hadn’t really compartmentalised that trauma yet. Or any of his trauma’s. 

“They didn’t know I was going to be down here. I don’t think they designed _shit_ for me. Maybe they keep every spirit with a grudge down here waiting for that particular person to get down so they can be tortured,” Liam said, exasperated,“but who knows, really? All I know is that I can’t make amends with my father like you did with Tara. He’s a homophobic piece of shit who blames nine-year-old me for his death. You can’t reason with that.”

Theo didn’t know what to say to that at first, so he just pulled Liam a little closer and laid there in silence. 

“Your useless pack will come for you, you have to keep believing that.”

“Then why haven’t they already?” Liam snapped.

“I’m sure they’ll have a perfectly fine explanation when we get back. They’ve had plenty of time to come up with one, that’s for damn sure,” Theo said, and Liam couldn’t help but smile a bit at that.

Suddenly, Liam rolled away from Theo, and stood up. Theo propped himself up on his elbows. “What are you doing?”

Liam didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to, because the sound of the front door slamming shut had reached his ears already. With a heavy sigh, Theo laid his head back on the floor and rubbed his face. 

He then got to his feet and went to stand next to Liam. Theo looked at the beta, whose eyes were focussed on the bedroom door. 

“Don’t even think about it,” Liam said without diverting his eyes, “it’s my turn.”

“I wouldn’t-” Theo started, but he stopped himself. Whatever Liam was thinking, going before his turn wasn’t his intention. He heard the man coming up the stairs. 

He put his hand on Liam’s shoulder, and he finally looked up. An electric shock shot through Theo’s body as they made eye contact. “See you in a bit,” he said, and Liam nodded.

The door swung open, and Theo, true to his word, let go of Liam’s shoulder and walked away. 

Theo let himself sink to the floor when he thought he was far away enough and covered his ears with his hands. He didn’t know why he even bothered; his supernatural hearing would make sure he heard every nauseating noise anyway. 

When Mr. Dunbar finally vanished, Theo immediately made his way back to the beta. He had to try again. No, he wasn’t trying, Theo corrected himself, he was _doing_ it. He grabbed Liam’s hand, closed his eyes, and concentrated. All he wanted was to take his pain, make his passing a little easier this time. 

“Theo, not again,” Liam whispered, but Theo ignored him. He had to be able to do this. He had to. Failing wasn’t an option, not this time. 

_You can’t take pain if you don’t care_ , echoed in the back of Theo’s head. He shrugged the though off. No, he did care. He could do it. _For Liam_.

Suddenly Liam gasped. At exactly the same time, Theo’s eyes shot open in surprise, because his arm seemed to be on fire. He looked down, and the joy he felt at the sight of the black veins on his arm was enough to make him cry. He let out a sob, partly of relief, mostly of happiness. 

Liam relaxed and closed his eyes. When Theo was sure he didn’t hear the beta’s heartbeat anymore, he let go of his hand. His cheeks were wet. 

He wasn’t a complete failure.

He’d _helped_ someone. He, Theo Raeken, the so-called sociopath, had helped someone, and it hadn’t been for his own gain. _Take that, Stiles_ , he thought, and laughed through his tears. Even now, his annoyance for the awkward human of the McCall-pack didn’t falter.

Theo wiped his cheeks, but it was kind of pointless, because not even a couple of seconds later they were in the same state as before. He didn’t understand himself sometimes. Crying had always been some sort of deadly sin before hell, but now this, too, seemed to become a habit. And he didn’t even care!

_Well, you are in literal hell_ , Theo thought, and that was a good excuse if he’d ever heard one.

He stared at the clock, waiting for the big hand to reach the twelve to make it four o’clock and start turning back, but then he decided against that as it would only make the wait longer. 

But being alone with his thoughts didn’t seem like a good idea either, because his arm still hurt and the more Theo thought about it the worse it got. He was such a baby. Theo pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. 

Theo’s eyes drifted to Liam’s lifeless body. After all this time, and knowing he’d come back, it was still heartbreaking to see him lying there, broken and- well, dead. He didn’t know how long he would be able to take all this. He’d been able to keep himself going for Liam, but now that Liam was beginning to lose hope, Theo had to be even stronger and more optimistic than before. 

Liam’s wounds and bones were starting to heal. He opened his eyes and slowly sat up. He then turned his head to look at Theo. His eyes were wide open, filled with awe and something that looked like happiness, but not quite. Either way, Liam’s eyes were filled with tears.

He completely turned around now, and Theo suddenly noticed how _close_ he was, sitting on his knees in front of him. 

Liam cupped Theo’s face with his hands, wiped some of his tears away and said, “You did it.”

Theo couldn’t contain himself anymore.

He grabbed the beta’s arms, holding them in place (even though Liam didn’t give an inclination that he was about to remove them), and he slowly brought his face closer to Liam’s, afraid the beta was going to pull away. 

But he didn’t have to worry, because Liam met him halfway, catching Theo’s lips with his own. Theo’s closed his eyes as they both melted into the kiss. He’d waited so long for this moment. He tasted tears, but he didn’t know- didn’t _care_ \- whose they were. Their movements were slow, and oh so tender, and Theo wanted it to last forever. 

He’d completely forgotten about the pain in his arm. 

* * *

Theo was feeling things.

Perhaps a bit vague, but it was the best description Theo could come up with. He was pretty sure he was in love, probably had been since B.H. (before hell), and now all those feelings were pouring out. But he was also miserable, because come on, he was in literal hell and he had to be beaten to death _and_ watch the person he loved be beaten to death over and over.

It was making his head hurt. Add to that, his resentment for the people in the real world was growing every time he had to watch Liam die. Who the fuck put the Skinwalkers in charge of punishing people? Or the McCall pack, for that matter. 

They were slowly but surely approaching their fourth month in hell, and Theo was beginning to lose his mind. Liam wasn’t doing too well either, but he was losing hope instead of his mind. They held onto each other like their life depended on it, and in a way, it did. 

They rarely argued anymore. They would talk for hours, sure, but they were too tired to fight each other. At some point they figured that that energy was better spent elsewhere.

Sometimes Liam would sleep for hours, and wake up to his dad killing Theo. Sometimes Theo would cry in Liam’s arms until it was his turn to die. Sometimes Liam would try to fight his dad, tired of all the pain. 

The consistency of it all almost became boring. 

Then, Theo had finally convinced Liam to explore the house, but they quickly discovered that outside the room, even the smallest sound could get you killed. And after weeks of exploring, they concluded that there was no way out.

Liam got worse after that. Theo figured he hadn’t wanted to search the house before because he was afraid he wouldn’t find an exit. And now that they hadn’t, he fell in a hole. Theo tried desperately to hold Liam’s head above the water, but they were both slipping, so it seemed almost impossible. 

Then the fifth month mark came and went. Theo began to fear that they were becoming shells of their former selves. 

As he stood in front of the door, waiting for their torturer to open it, he looked back at Liam. The boy looked broken as he sat there against the wall, his face buried in his hands. They really had to get out. Maybe now more than ever. 

Theo often wondered if their situation would have been better if Liam’s dad had been sentient like Tara had been. Maybe they would’ve gotten out already, if that had been the case. There was no reasoning with this thing. But on the other hand, maybe if he would have been crueller if he had some form of awareness. Liam had told him about how homophobic and violent his old man had been. Maybe he would’ve made Liam watch as he killed Theo from the very beginning, with taunts and all. No, maybe they were better off like this. 

‘Better off like this’. Theo huffed. They both knew by now that hell lived up to its name.

There was no better off.

* * *

It was Liam’s turn to die.

Theo had pulled the beta into a hug as he heard the man come up the stairs, and for a while he refused to let go.

“C’mon, Theo,” Liam whispered, and Theo reluctantly gave in. The door slammed open, and the man immediately lunged at Liam to punch him in the face. 

But then a thunderous noise tore through the room, and Theo startled so hard he tripped and fell on the ground. 

A crack. In the ceiling. And it was growing.

Had they finally- No, they couldn’t have-

Theo scrambled to his feet and made his way to Liam and his dad as fast as he could. Liam was lying on the ground, taking the hits, and seemingly unaware of what had just happened. Theo grabbed Liam’s hands and dragged him away from his father, who didn’t notice his son had gone, punched Theo in the face instead. And again.

Theo cursed loudly, but ducked as the man threw another punch. Black eye, broken nose, nothing he hadn’t experienced before. He hauled Liam over his shoulders, and made a run for the crack that was now a rift in the ceiling. 

Liam was barely conscious but breathing as Theo pulled him along on his way up, vaguely aware that Liam’s dad was following. He climbed and climbed, never once stopping to catch his breath. He could already see the end! He was almost there, almost there…

Theo grabbed the cement edge with one hand, while still pulling Liam along, and then heaved first himself, then Liam onto the surface.

Fresh air filled his lungs, and his eyes filled with tears, because they made it-

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Theo saw Liam’s dad trying to crawl up as well, but he wasn’t about to let that happen. He immediately turned to stomp the man right in the face as he popped up. The man fell back down into the room, not even opening his mouth to scream. Theo shuddered. 

Then the rift closed. 

But Theo still couldn’t catch his breath, didn’t notice the people that were standing completely frozen in shock a couple of yards away, because Liam’s heartbeat was fading. And if he died here, there was no coming back. 

“No, no, no, no,” Theo muttered frantically, crawling back towards him, “Don’t you dare, don’t you _fucking_ dare!” 

With his right hand, he cupped Liam’s face, and with his left, he grabbed Liam’s hand. Black lines formed on his arms, and he gasped, but didn’t stop. Liam had to start healing. 

Suddenly, there was a katana on his throat. 

“Let go of him.”

Kira’s eyes were flaming, and the complete lack of emotion on her face scared Theo half to death. “He’s _dying_ , you moron,” He shrieked, still desperately holding on to him, “I’m trying to save him!”

Liam was slowly beginning to heal, he could see, but he was still not conscious. 

Then Scott was there. “Kira, stop.”

The kitsune hesitated, but then did as she was told and removed the katana. Theo breathed hard for a couple of seconds, his adrenaline rushing, but immediately went back to examine Liam. To his great relief, the beta finally opened his eyes, and smiled when he saw Theo. 

“Where are we?” Liam whispered, holding on to Theo’s hand, who sat back, a loud sob escaping his throat. They had escaped, they were okay, or at least they were going to be.

“We did it,” he replied, sobs wrecking his body, “we got out.”

Liam closed his eyes for a moment and smiled again. 

Finally.

**Author's Note:**

> Come cry with me on tumblr: [Royalravens](https://royalravens.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Please leave a comment, I'd really appreciate it!


End file.
